The clouds above Mount Cangmang boiled away. Three golden bows came through the steam. The Glorious Sun led. Behind it came the Radiant Mandate and the Iron Siphon. They had been on separate routes to the cities when the spires lost their main feeds. Zhao called all three to Cangmang to break the southern siege line and retake the spire before the Alliance could shut down what remained.
Each galleon was a thousand feet long and weighed two hundred thousand tons. Dragons covered the gold plates of their hulls. Three rings turned beneath each ship, holding it in the air. Behind the armor, each engine room held a small sun.
The Glorious Sun came lower and rolled toward the mountain. Forty ports opened along its side. Light gathered inside them.
The first broadside took the eastern spur of Cangmang. Rock ran into the crater as green glass. Heat swept through the pines below it. In the camps six miles away, crews threw themselves down in the flooded trenches. Their wards turned the rising steam into a white curtain. The first southern signal post vanished with the spur. Cheng Bao’s crews had to get their casualty count and new orders through on a spare line. Men felt the heat pass over their heads and heard trees come down behind them.
